Thursday, July 03, 2008

The Fall of the US Auto Industry

But the blame has to fall on Detroit's executives. They didn't know enough about their own business to build better cars than the foreigners did, and they were unprepared for a change that was sure to come, sooner or later.

I blame the MBA-ization of American industry. Together with the education degree the MBA is a going to be the downfall of the USA. Both degrees are superficial treatments purporting to teach pupils 'how to' rather than a basal knowledge required to properly navigate their endeavors. Hence we have k-12 math teachers that know no math, industry managers that don't have the vision of their foreign counterparts. Outside of one year in the early 90's GM has never had a CEO that had experience in engineering, design, R&D, or manufacturing. They've all been bean counters, no car guys. GM is losing $1 billion a month with no end in sight. They just bean counted themselves to death. GM isn't the only American corporation that fits this mold, most do.